Luigi Nono

Luigi Nono (1924–1990) He is ranked among the most distinguished founders of the post-war avant-garde, alongside Stockhausen, Boulez and Xenakis. He studied composition with Malipiero, Maderna and Scherchen. He also graduated in law from Padua University. At first recognized mainly in Germany with works presented at the Darmstadt summer courses, he came to international attention in 1956 with the premiere of Il canto sospeso for solo voices, chorus and orchestra in Cologne. Five years later the work was performed at the ‘Warsaw Autumn’ Festival.
His political views, reflected in membership of the Italian Communist Party (which he joined in 1953), had a deep impact on many of his pieces. He was a member of the Akademie der Künste der ddr. From 1960 he focused mainly on electroacoustic music in the Studio di Fonologia Musicale della rai (founded by Berio and Maderna) in Milan. In 1980–85 he served as artistic director of the Experimental Studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation in Freiburg on Breisgau.
Luigi Nono made several visits to Poland. Two of his pieces have
a Polish context: Diario polacco ’58 and Quando stanno morendo (Diario polacco II). The latter, commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn in 1981, was composed under the impression of martial law imposed in Poland in December 1981. It was dedicated to Nono’s ‘Polish friends and comrades, who – in exile, the underground, in prisons and places of work – persevere in resistance; who still hope against hope and who believe even if they are non-believers.’

Principal works: Variazioni canoniche sulla serie dell’ op. 41 di Arnold Schoen-berg for orchestra (1950), Polifonica – Monodica – Ritmica for chamber orchestra (1951), Composizione per orchestra (1951), Epitaffio per Federico Garcia Lorca – three studies: EspaEa en el corazón for soprano and baritone solo, mixed choir and instruments, Y su sangre ya viene cantando for flute and orchestra, Memento. Romance de la guardia civil espagEola for reciter, choir of reciters, mixed choir and orchestra (1952–53), Due espressioni per orchestra for orchestra (1953), Il mantello rosso, ballet music (1953), La victoire de Guernica for mixed choir and orchestra (1954), Liebeslied for mixed choir, harp and instrumental ensemble (1954), Canti per 13 for chamber orchestra (1955), Incontri for 24 instruments (1955), Il canto sospeso for solo voices, choir and orchestra (1955/56), Varianti for solo violin, arche e legni italiano (1957), La terra e la compagna for soprano and tenor, mixed choir and orchestra (1975), Cori di Didone for mixed choir and percussion (1958), Composizione per orchestra n. 2: Diario polacco ’58 (1958–59), Sarą dolce tacere for eight solo voices (1960), Ha venido, Canciones para Silvia for solo soprano and choir (1960), Omaggio a Emilio Vedova for tape (1960), Intolleranza 1960 – stage action for solo voices, choir and orchestra (1960–61), Suite da camera da Intoleranza 1960 for solo soprano, choir and orchestra (1969), Canti di vita e d’amore: Sul Ponte di Hiroshima for soprano, tenor and orchestra (1962), Canciones a Guiomar for solo soprano, female choir and instruments (1962–63), La fabbrica illuminata for mezzo-soprano and tape (1964), Musik zu ‘Die Ermittlung’ von Peter Weiss for tape (1965), Ricorda cosď ti hanno fatto in Auschwitz for tape (1966), A floresta é jovem e cheja di vida for three voices, soprano, clarinet, copper plates and tape (1966), Per Bastiana – Tai-Yang-Cheng for orchestra and tape (1967), Contrappunto dialettico alla mente for tape (1968), Musica-Manifesto n. 1: Un volto del mare – Non consumiamo Marx for voices and tape (1968–69), Musica per Manzú, sound track to the film Pace e guerra for tape (1969), Y entonces comprendió for six female voices, mixed choir, tape and live electronics (1969–70), Voci destroying muros for solo soprano, female choir and orchestra (1970), Ein Gespenst geht um die Welt for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra (1971), Como una ola de fuerza y luz for soprano, orchestra and tape (1971–72), Siamo la gioventú del Vietnam for one-voice choir (1973), Al gran sole carico d’amore – opera (1972–74), Für Paul Dessau for tape (1974), ...sofferte onde serene ... for piano and tape (1976), Con Luigi Dallapiccola for six percussionists and live electronics (1979), Fragmente–Stille, an Diotima for string quartet (1979–80), Io, frammento dal Prometeo for two sopranos, chamber choir, bass flute, double-bass clarinet and live electronics (1980–81), Dónde estás, hermano? for two sopranos, mezzo-soprano and alto (1982), Quando stanno morendo. Diario polacco n. 2 for two sopranos, mezzo-soprano, flute and live electronics (1982), Guai ai gelidi mostri for two voices, flute, clarinet, tuba, viola, cello, double bass and live electronics (1983), Omaggio a György Kurtág for wind instruments and live electronics (1983), A Carlo Scarpa architetto, ai suoi infiniti possibili for orchestra (1984), Prometeo, tragedia dell’ascolto for four instrumental groups, two sopranos, two contraltos, tenor, mixed choir, two actors and live electronics (1984), A Pierre, dell’infinito azzurro silenzio, inquietum for double-bass flute, double-bass clarinet and live electronics (1985), Risonanze erranti for mezzo-soprano, flute, tuba, percussion and live electronics (1986), Caminantes ...Ayacucho for solo alto, flute, organ and orchestra (1986–87), No hay Post-Prae-Ludium baab-arr for ottavino and live electronics (1988), La lontananza nostalgica-futura. Madrigale per piĚ ‘Caminantes’ con Gidon Kremer for solo violin and live electronics (1988), ‘Hay que caminar’ sognando for two violins (1989).

La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura
(The future nostalgic distance. Madrigal for several ‘Wayfarers’)
Utopian nostalgic distance is familiar to me and I know it cannot flourish in continual restlessness. The rare qualities of the sounds invented by Gidon make the various spaces of the Kleine Philhar-monie resound just as the flowing spaces of the Kleine Philharmonie offer other spaces for Gidon’s original sounds: distant sounds – near sounds – meetings – clashes – internal silences – external silences – overlapping conflicts. Magnetic tapes and madrigal voices accompany the violin soloist and the live electronic music. ‘The voices of Wayfarers’. No development or transformation: Gidon’s sounds are original. Three days of uninterrupted recording at the s.w.f. Expe-rimental Studio in Freiburg on Breisgau. Never-ending listening – attempts at selecting affinities – various feelings about composing voice by voice, like in the Flemish figurative school. And Gidon abandons himself to the various spaces with other writing and invention. And abandons them!

Luigo Nono